Possible processor damage?

[alacarde666]

The problem started when I was playing a game. I noticed my tower was getting hot, which is not uncommon but eventually my game froze. I wasn't able to Alt+Tab or Ctr+Alt+Delete out, so I had to hard reset it. It booted fine and was able to load Windows, however within minutes it froze again. After restarting it again, it Posted up, but when it went to load Windows, it hung at a black screen.

I've tried loading with Safe Mode, it would freeze on crcdisk.sys and wouldn't go on past that. I tried using both a Windows Vista disk, and a Vista Recovery Disk, however it would freeze as it was loading the files. My friend and myself tried looking on-line for solutions, and we found a lot of various ways to try. We tried booting with the on-board video card, nothing. We tried using each RAM stick individually, nothing. We tried disabling on-board features in BIOS such as sound, LAN, and the USB controller, nothing.

Then we finally tried reducing the CPU Multiplier in BIOS to the minimum available, 5x at the minimum 200 MHz. We were finally able to load Windows normally. Then we tried increasing the multiplier closer to its default. The highest we could boot from was 10x, however it would still freeze with simply Internet Explorer running. right now i have the side off with a fan blowing into the tower to prevent any overheating, however the computer still locks up randomly with little to no processor strain.

Any ideas / solutions? I would love to be able to boot with normal, or close to normal parameters and still have a stable OS.

OS: Windows Vista Home, 32bit
Service Pack 3
Custom Built
Processor: AMD athlon 64 2X Dual Core Processor 6000+
RAM: 4GB RAM DDR2
Hard Drive: Hitachi 7200 rpm 500GB
Sound: on-board
Video Card:Nvidia Gforce 250gtx 1gig
1 user

[Geek-9pm]

Option only. No facts.
I do not believe a damaged CPU would let you into the BIOS and boot windows. No way to prove that. I have never heard of a damaged CPU that would go as far as booting windows then fail. Except for thermal overload.

Check the thermal compound and heat sink. The heat sink may be askew. That would fit the symptoms you describe. Can you measure the tempos? That should be in the BIOS.

[alacarde666]

I've left my computer on for the past 30 minutes or so, and the CPU temperature is staying between 56 and 60 Celsius.

[Geek-9pm]

I've left my computer on for the past 30 minutes or so, and the CPU temperature is staying between 56 and 60 Celsius.

Anything below 80 C is mild and safe.
And it did not shut down or crash.So heat may not be the problem.
But there are two other places where heat matters.
Inside the PSU. If the irt feels hot, it is hot.
The graphics processor on your Video card. Some will force the system to shut down when there is two much heat.
Otherwise, it would be the RAM. Try another RAM set, if you can.
In a few cases, any drive can start an impromptu internal failure that shuts the PSU off. Rare, but is does happen. It will drive you crazy trying to find which drive.
Unplug power and data to both floppy and CD-ROM and see if it runs normally for a day.

[Salmon Trout]

the CPU temperature is staying between 56 and 60 Celsius.

Anything below 80 C is mild and safe.

Geek, I'll be charitable and suppose that your speakwrite didn't hear you properly... 

From AMD's website, the specs for that CPU:

Processor       AMD Athlon™ X2
Model           6000+
Max Temps (C)   55-63

Those temps depend on core voltage. The maximum temperature at 1.35V is 55 C and at 1.40V it is 63 C.

http://products.amd.com/pages/desktopcpudetail.aspx?id=34&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

CPU life and temperature are inversely related – the higher the temperature, the shorter the CPU’s life. About 5 years ago I read that the mean time to catastrophic failure of commercial silicon doubles for every 10 degrees C rise in temp above 70 degrees C. With today's smaller feature sizes, I would maybe put that figure lower which may be why AMD say 55-63. Whatever. I am not a silicon specialist, but I do know it should be your objective to run your system at the lowest possible temperature.

Anyhow, we are not talking about a theoretical lifespan measured in thousands of hours, that CPU is unstable now.

Alacarde666, your CPU is running at its maximum permitted temperature. If that is just when it is idling then that is BAD NEWS. Put any load on it and it is going to get unstable, and if it gets up to 70 or 80 plus consistently it isn't going to last its expected lifetime. It may be faulty, or indeed damaged already, but lets be hopeful and suppose that its cooling system is not working very well. This needs investigation. The usual supects... is the fan operating properly, is the CPU seated properly, is there a proper amount of heatsink compound between the CPU and the heatsink, is the heatsink clogged with dust or fluff, does it have a decent heatsink, is the computer case properly ventilated, are grilles or holes blocked, is it on a carpet, and so on. If that was my cpu I would want to see it idling well below 35 and maybe reaching 40-45 on load. If you do not feel confident to take the steps needed, you need to consult a competent hardware person, this may be a friend or relative or a repair shop with a good reputation.

Geek-9PM, what were you smoking when you wrote that?

[Geek-9pm]

Thank you Salmon Trout. Ignore my post.

[Salmon Trout]

the mean time to catastrophic failure of commercial silicon doubles for every 10 degrees C rise in temp above 70 degrees C.

If that were true we'd all take a blowtorch to our CPUs. I must have been smoking something as well. I meant that the mean time to catastrophic failure halves. That's knocked me off my high horse!

[Geek-9pm]

Seriously, I never smoke. I am diabetic and have a sleep disorder. Also I have  asthma and a car that likes to sneak into my bedroom and torment me.

Maximum temperatures for AMD and Intel chops vary widely. AMD says some ships have a maximum of 95 °C and they do't say what will come above that temperature. Stop and catch fire?   

But AMD also gives an ambiguous range for one type.

AMD Opteron    65 – 71°C

This is from an indirect source, which may be incorrect. That source also reports that Intel gives variant values for temperature. Most often Intel says 70 °C but for one notebook type it is 100°C which would mean your notebook could also be used to brew a cup of tea.

[Salmon Trout]

Maximum temperatures for AMD and Intel chops vary widely.

Indeed. That's why I looked at the actual published AMD specs.

AMD says some ships have a maximum of 95 °C and they do't say what will come above that temperature.

Thermal shutdown, I should think, which is when the CPU's temperature protection kicks in to prevent permanent damage.

[Geek-9pm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAR0437GKOk

[Salmon Trout]

youtube

What a d*ck holding that camera. Made me seasick.

[Geek-9pm]

Sooty. that was a R movie. Imported from Australia.
Here is a PG version of 'CPU Catch Fire'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8lS7KoOEeo